


The Hurt is Gone

by sneezebag



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin
Genre: F/M, and sandor can pass for her father, if sansa dreamed of a daughter like arya, why not bring it full circle
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-16
Updated: 2020-05-16
Packaged: 2021-03-02 22:13:39
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 925
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24214231
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sneezebag/pseuds/sneezebag
Summary: She waits for an eternity, and then a blinding beacon had come in her line of sight.
Relationships: Arya Stark/Gendry Waters, Sandor Clegane/Sansa Stark
Comments: 4
Kudos: 33





	The Hurt is Gone

It was just her luck, that for all the hits and kills she’s done in the thick of this skirmish, the close calls and dodges she managed in the nick of time, an abandoned mare she mounted to go back to camp had taken too much wounds facing off the white walkers, dismounting her the worst way possible.

The poor thing had been running away from the remains of the battle they’ve nearly lost, and as the beast fell, Arya had been thrown off several yards away but still way too far off camp. 

She preferred to have at least landed on snow, but being thrown into the air then landing onto strewn bodies of fallen armored men and White Walkers alike to break her fall had been the final straw on the mule’s back.

Fighting off the walkers must have taken them days. This one they’re retreating from is far from the last one, the Night King nowhere yet in sight and the skies so dark and ominous. Luckily for them, their casualties are burnt as soon as possible to prevent the Others from turning their men against them, but it even with their numbers, exhaustion and helplessness catch up on them, as they did now to Arya.

She’d felt the pain from landing that fall, but fatigue swept her body, following all the strain from the endless combat, somehow dulled the ache that must have broken a few of her bones. Not long after she’d begin to feel wounds that stung then noticed that she cannot place where these cuts may be in the dark colors of her clothing. Her body screams for respite, yet she cannot force her pleas of help out her mouth, only feeble groaning and gnashing of her teeth.

Feeling delirious from the agonizing pain that the thrumming of her blood could no longer mask as she lays on the ground, she looks around her, men fleeing the battlements, intent for relief and looking worse for wear, her estate escaping their notice, thinking her already beyond help. 

After all the skill and strength she’d earned when she left King’s Landing as a child and had come home to Westeros after her time in Braavos, she’s brutally reminded her expertise and body is more on cunning and stealth, not for enduring heavy blows. Everything had begun to blur around her. She hadn’t an inkling on how much of her blood had been spilt, but she’d become so weak that her pained mewling had turned into ragged gasps for breath and frail attempts to stay awake. 

None of her experiences would have prepared Arya Stark to the possibility that she'll die this way: far from the warmth of her pack, wasting away like a faceless corpse in the aftermath of the raging war, with even the possibilty that she'll rise again to face against her family.

She waits for an eternity, and then a blinding beacon had come in her line of sight. 

Within the light there come various figures, some on foot, some on horses, but there are two shadows coming much closer to her. Arya deems herself dead, because the closer the bodies strode to her, the more convinced she is that makes out the bodies of her parents. 

She hears her voice: shakily and weakly calling out to them, delighted with finally reuniting with her beloved parents, relieved at the thought of leaving all her pain and suffering in her mortal body… then slowly growing more mortified at the thought of everything she’d left behind. The remains of her home, all the people who marched North to defend the realm from the Others, the Long Night still looming upon all of Westeros, her whispers to Gendry of their future if they endured till the end of this war… She’d been sure she’d return home, as she had for the subsequent battles before the sun had truly set. She had been around Jon, Brienne, Sandor, Jaime Lannister and his bannermen, and those crows and wildings they’d set out with, their own loyal bannermen who'd fight and die alongside the Starks who lead them but separated from them as the battle raged…

Is what their father meant when he’d told her that ‘the lone wolf dies’?

She looks on, no longer understanding her surroundings… only to hear Sansa’s panicked voice begging her to survive, sobbing as she cups her sister’s face as Sandor’s equally panic-stricken but sullen face comes into view, looking at her momentarily in shock and dismay, then gently gathering her up. 

"The she-wolf has a weak pulse. Knowing her, it'll take more than her injuries for her to keel over."

"Sandor, please. My sister is-"

"I don't mean offense by that, little bird. You'll be even scared for her if she doesn't get help. It's time to retreat."

With the assurance of coming home to Winterfell to her family within reach, she manages a weak smile, in the safety of her sister's arms on her horse, more of their allies coming to view, and the thought of being with her family giving her strength to hold on and keep steady on horseback.

"...Sansa."

"Arya, you're going to be fine. You can calm down and rest-"

"Who said Clegane can wear Father's clothes?"

"It's mighty cold, she-wolf. I didn't ride North with all my best clothes." Clegane snorts, trying to mask his mirth by sounding annoyed. 

"..."

"Sansa..."

"What now?"

"Why are your teats so big."

The sound of Sandor Clegane's laughter filled their ears as they journeyed home.

**Author's Note:**

> Pretty sure this has been done before and I just haven’t looked hard enough but hey. Are there any improvements compared to my last piece? Should I stop attempting to write fanfic all together? Please tell me about what I should improve on. Thanks for reading


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